The Script #3 Review

I finally got the new album from The Script!

I've actually been waiting for it for a long time because I love their music so much and coud not wait for them to finish and publish their third album. This review should however have been done a while ago, because the album was released over two weeks ago, there was just one problem... they didn't have it at my local record store!

So, I had to order it, and it literally took me two weeks to get it. That was a bit disappointing. The Script is actually kind of famous, so it should be available for purchase in Bergens biggest record store. But I guess they'r more into Flo Rida, Carly Rae Jepson, Nicki Minaj and all that really boring and meaningless music...

But, when I finally got it, it was totally worth the wait!

For those of you who might not know The Script already, they consist of lead vocalist Danny O'Donoghue, guitarist Mark Sheehan and drummer Glen Power. The three of them are from Ireland and play some kind of rock-ish music. Wikipedia sais alternative rock, pop rock and indie pop, but they have described their style as a form of "Celtic soul". I guess they don't exactly fit in a box... The best bands don't.

Anyway, their third alum, appropriately named #3, consists of ten tracks. (There is an extended album on Spotify with seven additional tracs, but mine hasn't got those.)

1. Good Ol' Days                
2. Six Degrees Of Separation          
3. Hall Of Fame                            
4. If You Could See Me Now            
5. Glowing                                        
6. Give The Love Around          
7. Broken Arrow                                
8. Kaleidoscope                                  
9. No Words
10. Millionaires

Simply said, this is a real work of art. I love it so much, and no simple blog post will do it justice. The Script has always been a bit different. They write, produce and preform their own music, and that really shows in their work. The first two albums were great, but this one is different.

Good lyrics is a thing they've always been known for, but in this new album they are taking this to a whole other level. For the first time they're writing straight from their guts, and the powerful lyrics and rushes of emotion it conjures is breathtaking. They simply write about life, all aspects of it.

It's not just your typical "love, and how it breaks, and love, and how it breaks". Being grown up men with long relationships, wives, families and kids brings a sense of wisdom to their work. It's impossible to make you understand... You just have to go listen to it yourself.

That being said, I have to say I love the first half of the album the most. The second part is great, but the first four songs is in a league of its own.

I've picked out my three favorite songs of the album, and I hereby present to you:

Six Degrees Of Separation
Wow. I just don’t know where to start. It’s so honest and real. Knowing that the lead vocalist, Danny O’Donoghue, had a terrible breakup with his ex-girlfriend last year, you instantly know this is written straight from his guts. It’s such an incredible thing to listen to something that grabs you like this. One of my all-time favorite songs.

Hall Of Fame
I could not believe my own ears when I heard this for the first time. There are not many songs like this in the world… Talking about how doing what you are passionate about and succeeding in that is way better than any amount of money or fame. And how anyone can be a champion, whether it is on an every-day base or in a more literal form. One of the most inspiring songs ever! And the music video… I’m in awe at what they (The Script) manage to tell the world in such a short and simple thing as one song. You must however see the music video to really feel it's power...

If You Could See Me Now

I can’t listen to this song in front of people. It’s that kind of song that brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it. Mark and Danny wrote it one night they finally decided to put words to some of the thoughts, feelings and fears they had hidden deep inside. The song is dedicated to Marks parents and Danny’s father, and it’s so painful, beautiful and raw it’s almost terrible to listen to. You know they mean every word. And the feeling of wanting people to be proud of who you are, what you do and how your life turned out, is just universal. Every single people in this world can relate to this song one way or the other. One of the best and most honest songs ever made.

My verdict? Possibly the best album I've heard... There is honestly one song that I don't love that much, and that is "Give The Love Around". It was just a bit flat to me in between those great pieces of art. However, track number 2, 3 and 4 I think is some of the best I've heard. 

Love this album with all my heart, and if you consider buying it too, DO IT! 
Like I said, it's worth the money...

Believe it or not: September Haul!

Honestly, I never believed I’d ever make a post like this one… But times change, people change, and lately I’ve actually been feeling kind of girly. Which is, for those of you who know me, kind of unusual. But until now I've almost only been posting youtube or film-related things, so I figured was time to try a different teritorial...

Without any further fuzz, I bring to you my September haul!

First of all I definitely love this autumn's fashion! The colores are beautiful and the clothes are actually quite similar to the style I've been having for a while now. Yey, the world finally figured out that big and warm sweaters are great! So instead of sneaking off to the men's section to find the sweaters I like, I can easily get them everywhere! 

(Btw. I converted all the prizes from Norwegian kroner to US dollars, so don't cringe too much at the prizes. Here in Norway everything is expensive...)

Carlings - $87.25 (499 kr)

This one I actually found by happy accident. I walked past Carlings when I suddenly heard a very familiar intro playing over the speakers outside. I knew from the moment it started that it was my favorite song in the world at the moment, "Paradise" by Coldplay. Since I'm a bit lame I just had to go inside so I could listen to the rest of the song... While doing just that I happened to come across this lovely woolen sweater. It literally matches everything and it's so warm! It was a bit expencive, but I really needed a good and warm sweater, so to me it was worth the prize. I live in Norway... It's cold here. Deal with it or freeze.

Vila - prize unknown

Apparantly I'm not the only one who thinks the weather is getting colder. My parents, actually my dad, if I'm to believe what I've heard, got me this fantastic sweater from Vila! It's made by 50% angora wool, and that makes it sooo soft I literally feel like petting it every time I see it. The color is also fantastic! I just love it...

Cubus - $34.80 (199 kr)

Yes, I suddenly found out I was short on all kinds of sweaters to wear during the autumn and winter. This one is a little more "dressy" than the others as I can both dress it up or down depending on the occasion. You can't really see it from this picture, but it's got nice striped detailing all over and a decorative zipper in the back. It looks great pared with some black shorts and woolen tights and either a scarf or a neckless. I love Cubus so much, but I thing Norway is probably the only country selling this brand?

H&M $26.00 (149 kr)

I just had to show you one more sweater, all right? I actually bought this yesterday at H&M, and I love the colors! Looking into my closet I realized I hardly wear any colorful clothes, so I decided to change that. As I currently love both blue, green and purple, this was like made for me!

H&M - $26.00 (149 kr)

H&M - $17.30 (99 kr)

Since both my winter coats are black and almost all my clothes are black or grey I figured I'd through some color on the top of it all. These became the solution. The one on the top I actually believe one of my best friends back home, Sara, bought it and showed it to me when I last visited Stavanger... I think you have it in some brown-ish colors? However, I didn't meen to copy you, I just think you have an awesome style! Bou you know that already 'cause I've told you hundreds of times :-)

DNA - $69.70 (399 kr)

I've been looking for some new shoes for a while now, and las week I finally found them. I got them from DNA, which is my favorite shoe-store ever! I always find shoes I like there. These are both warm, practical and comfortable. I'm normally not very girly, but they are kind of cute as well as being a bit rough and cool if you understand what I mean? Anyway, they fit almost any outfit I've tried with them, so I'm very fond of them so far... I really don't need to be a couple of inches taller than I already am, but who cares?

Lush - $41.65 (239 kr)

During the summer my hair has somehow managed to get all frizzy and dry. Normally the problem is rather other way around. But to deal with this I went to Lush, my favorite cosmetics store ever, and bought this jasmine and henna hair treatment. You're supposed to smudge it into dry hair and leave it in for 20 minutes before washing it out with shampoo as usual. I didn't have my hopes too high when I first tried this, but after just one time use I could literally see and feel the difference! My hair looked more "awake" and healthy and it had also removed the frizziness I get from straightening my hair. It was a little expensive, but the pot is big and it actually worked!

Any drugstore - $29.60 (169 kr) and $27.80 (159 kr)

I've also been looking all over for a good moisturizer that didn't leave my face all greasy. During my resent trip to Spain I bought VICHY Normaderm's daycream, and I love it so much! It is perfect. When I last week found out that my local apothecary had all Normaderm's products on sale I was thrilled. I got the night cream as well, and it is so good! It's actually quite mattifying while still being rich and moisturizing. I want all their products.

Kicks - $22.50 (129 kr)

Last but not least I got a fantastic nail polish from Kicks. I've recently started to wear nail polish more often, and wanted a blue one as I only had black, light pink and all shades of purple. I stumbled upon this by coincidence and liked the color. It's not shimmery which is a great plus to me. The brush that goes with this one is flat and therefore perfect for people like me who are terribly bad at applying nail polish.

Well, that was about it for this month. And for me its actually quite a lot! I have to say in mu defense that while moving here to Bergen I realized how many clothes I'd never use again. When I left them at home I suddenly needed a few things...

Anyway, I'm always interested in trying new things, so if you have discovered something great lately pleas let me know!

My Dubstep Room Tour

A lot of people back home had asked me to do some sort of room tour of my new room/apartment in Bergen... And a room tour you will get!

I searched Youtube for inspiration, and all I found were girls using half an hour to literally talk about every single thing in their rooms. It's plain to say I found them boring, bragy, poorly edited, and unproductively waisting my time. Therefore you won't be getting an in-depth storytelling-tour showing off and describing all of my things. I did it my way, as I always do.

As you can probably see I had a lot of fun editing this. I used it as a training exercise in Final Cut Pro X. I got the editing program over a year ago, but I've not taught myself how to use it properly and I hardly know a fraction of the possibilities there are hidden in the program somewhere... I'll need hours to understand half of the things I can do there!

I quickly have to apologize for the picture quality of the video... It's really bad! It had to, or else I wouldn't be able to upload it here. But I do wish for a new camera that can actually film in HD <3

The music in the video is called Crystallize and is made and preformed by dubstep-violinist Lindsey Stirling. She is awesome! I'll probably tell you more about her later, but check out her music video to the melody http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHjpOzsQ9YI

Well, now you know how I live :)

The Hard Task Of Finding A Good Album

(Pleas note that all information in this post is quite outdated...)

Two of my all time favorite bands are releasing a new CD this fall!

Over the last weeks I've become aware of what kind of music I really like. I listen to so much different it's always been hard for me to say which artists or bands I like, because sometimes I only like one or two of their songs... But I'm starting to find a few favorites among the insane amounts of artists and bands there are out there.

One thing I quickly discovered: I like bands. I hardly listen to solo-artists...

Some times I only like one of the albums a band or an artist have made. They may have a couple of good songs on other albums too, but there are spaces between. Let me give you a few examples.

Panic! At The Disco is an exciting band, but some of their songs are really wired. I like "Vices and Virtues", but the earlier albums can get a little one-dimensional to me, and some of the songs sound exactly like esch other.

Owl City has a cute sound, but after his first album, "Ocean Eyes" I think it all got a little bit too similar. I can't listen to all of his songs in a row...

Demi Lovato has become quite an artist, but I only like her newest album "Unbroken". The previous two is SO bad in comparison!

Both Jessy J and Katy Perry has actually got great voices, bot unfortunately a lot of their songs are very shallow. But then again, they have a few exceptions, and than they're really good.

Kaizers Orchestra is a norwegian band I have grown to like. They are different and have a very special sound. In total they have published over eight albums, but it's their last one, "Violeta Violeta Volume 2", I really like.

Taylor Swift I used to like... but then she made "We Are Never Getting Back Together". Enough said.

MUSE are just fascinating. Some of their songs I love and can listen to over and over again, but some are just boring (Madness) or very messy and noisy to listen to (Assassin). I like half of "The Resistance" and half of "Black Holes And Revelations"... But what I really want is to go to an outdoor concert with these guys! They have been crowned world's best live-band so many times I have to check for myself.

BUT I have found someone that I really like, and that I will continue to listen to for a long time...

Florence + The Machine is so special they're one of a kind. Her voice is so unique and powerful she could sing the phonebook and I'd still listen. I literally know all of her songs by heart, and even though I have no clue what she's singing about most of the time I love them! No one has made music like them before...

Christina Grimmie is one of the best female singers in the world in my opinion. She started making videos on Youtube all by herself, and now she's going on tour for the second time and her second studio album is coming up! I've followed her journey for almost two years now, and it's been exciting!

OneRepublic has been one of my favorites ever since I heard "Good Life" in the first episode of the Canadian TV-series "Rookie Blue". I love both their albums to pieces and can't wait for their upcoming next one... Yesterday night I watched a live OneRepublic concert on iTunes, and I promise you my heart almost stopped a couple of times because I was so excited to finally get to see them "live". Especially when the intro to "Good Life" rang through my headphones. Yes, it's a little old, but somehow It's got a special place in my heart...

The Script are just beautiful to listen to. Their sound is so distinkt and calming I smile every time I hear just the intro to one of their songs. Yesterday I listened to the songs on their brand new album, #3. It took my breath away! It was a piece of art and I can not stop singing "Hall Of Fame"...

So here you have it... my three favorite bands plus my favorite solo artist. And In case you were wondering... No, I don't like or listen to most of the things on the pop-charts or on Billboard's Hot 100. Most of it is boring and shallow, so I tend to find my own path through the music-world. You may like it or not, but that's just how I am <3

I Just Have To Dance

I have always loved to dance!

Ever since I was a little kid I've been constantly dancing around. Although, then I most frequently had to dance the "men's part" since my little sister was the ballerina/princess of the house. (I had very short hair back then, so if you didn't look closely I could probably pass as a boy!) I even tried to choreograph her and make up some sort of "real" dance, but unfortunately that always seemed to fail. We were a wired couple that did not always cooperate too well.

The sad part of this story is that I didn't know/realize/remember that I could actually start dancing in a group. As a hobby of sorts. I tried almost everything else though. Gymnastics and volleyball being some of it. But was too tall to be a gymnast and not passionate enough to join a volleyball team. Eventually I gave up all kinds of sports and started reading. That at least, I found that I was good at!

From seventh grade until ninth grade I suddenly started to read so much I ended up doing nothing else. Reading is a very good thing to do, and it surely raised my grades quite a bit, but it can also be too much. Happily I realized that before things came out of hand, and I started to hang out with friends and such. I never fully stopped reading though, I just read less than before. My "salvation" of sorts became my best friend and the sparkling interest for movies.

About two and a half year ago I suddenly told my dad I wanted to start dancing. I don't know how I got the Idea, but I can only guess the "Step Up"-films and "Save The Last Dance" had something to do with it. There was just one little problem... I started dancing HIP HOP!

Everybody that knows me can tell you I'm NOT a hip hop kind of girl. I've just not got "swag". But one always learns best from failure, which I also did eventually. It took a whole year though. Then I finally came with a really good idea: jazz-dance! Everybody in my class had danced longer than me, but I loved it, and soon I started to fit right in. Pointy toes, straight arms and legs, pirouettes... I suddenly realized this was me. My genre at last. I even joined in on the gigantic Christmas-show "Aladdin". Don't we look sparkly!

After a year I moved up from level one to a level two class (out of three). Everything suddenly became much harder, and I found I had to really work to get to the technique right, but the challenge was accepted, and I was really enjoying myself. And while taking my jazz-dance class, I also completed half a year of ballet (to get better technique), and almost half a year of contemporary.

Even though this sounds like a happy ending, I'm afraid I must say It's not... You see, I hurt my right-hand wrist doing a pirouette in our basement. The roof was too low. Don't ask how I managed to do it, but I shifted something inside my wrist, and suddenly it became sore and stiff. This all happened after Christmas last year, and ever since I've never been able to fully recover. My doctor told me it's sort of an on-and-off thing, and that it can mysteriously disappear or re-appear, and that it could take years to get rid of it.

In addition to my bad luck, I manage to injure my knee too! I'm not entirely sure how that happened either, but I think it just happened while walking in Paris this summer. If I was to describe it to you, I'd say it feels like it would do if you stood up straight and someone stood in front of you, put both hands on top of your left knee and gave it a hard nudge. Not a nudge from behind, couse that would just make your knee bend and you'd fall. But a nudge the other way. The way a knee is not ment to bend...

Today it's been almost seven months since I last danced. I miss it so much it's difficult to explain. Just the freedom and joy and grace it brings. The feeling of mastering something when I finally get a move right. If you are a dancer, you know what I'm talking about.

Yesterday I packed away my dance-shoes and my ballet-clothes. I decided to take half a year off dancing to fully recover from my various injuries, because I've recently moved to another city, and because I needed the time to study as it's my first year at the university. All these are good and justified reasons, but I'll still miss it. Can't wait until the day I can un-pack my dance-shoes again...

Codename: "Dinner"

One thing about living alone

You suddenly have to feed yourself

No one will call you

To freshly cooked dinner

Or even

Remind you that you're hungry

Man up

Make your own food appear

I found...

It's really not that difficult

Sometimes

It's even kind of fun

Ten things I've learned this week

1. I love internet

I mean... If I didn't I wouldn't have a blog, a frequently used Facebook account, a Twitter account so that I can stalk my favorite celebrities, a Youtube account so I can make playlists and comment videos, a university user-account (because I have to), a Google account to check my mail, an Empire-online account to keep me updated on movie-news and so on... I figure you get my point. Nevertheless, we finally got Wi-Fi here, and I've been using it well!

2. Cleaning is necessary

This wednesday my fellow "room-mates" (living in the other rooms on this floor) and I finally got together to wash everything in the entire kitchen and the two bathrooms. I can honestly say it was about time. Probably it's been over a year since anyone did it last time, and with eight people sharing one kitchen and two bathrooms you can only begin to imagine how dirty it was! After almost three hours I'm finally able to stay out there for a longer periode of time...

3. Fridges are useful

My mother and I bought a mini-fridge when she was her last weekend. Now I can hardly imagine how I'd be able to live without it! There's a big fridge out in the kitchen, but it's ment to be shared by eight people. Which is probably five or six too much. Now that I've got my own I can fill it up and live on it for a week or two! And best of all, I can make myself some breakfast before I get dressed and put on makeup and such. It's brilliant!



4. Food is expensive

I have always known that food costs a lot of money. Especially in Norway. But exactly how much was a tiny surprise. When I bought all the food I needed to fill my fridge I actually ended up paying 890 kroner! In US dollars that would be 155$... That's a lot. Luckily I won't have to pay that much next time I'm buying some food, because some of the things I bought are things that last a very long time. Well, it'd be easy to live on a diet with prices like that!

5. I'm lost without keys

To get in to my room I have to unlock three doors. One to get through the main entrance, one to get into my floor and one to get into my own room. It's easy to see I'm kind of attached to my keys. Or... should be. I learned that the hard way (as I always seem to do) by forgetting my keys inside when I went to the grocery store. You see, I joined one of the girls from my floor, and then I didn't need keys on my way out. What I forgot was that she was only buying one thing while I had an entire list, so naturally she finished before me. When I finally got back to our house I suddenly froze outside the main entrance painfully aware that I had no way of getting in. Since I've not yet been as smart as getting the phone numbers of the other guys in case a thing like this should happen, there was nothing to do but wait. After ten minutes of laughing about how stupid I'd been someone from third floor luckily came out. They looked a bit surprised to stumble upon a girl outside their door, but I just thanked them and rushed in. I'd not locked my room (the keys were inside) so I just had to knock on the door to my floor and explane to the girls in the kitchen exactly how blond I am on the inside...

6. Plastic is hard

I bought some very nice, black boots in Barcelona that I've used quite a lot lately. The problem is that the soles are made of plastic. Which means they're not too good for walking long distances. And I've been walking quite a bit this week. Solution: Change shoes once in a while!

7. TackIt is mandatory

If you don't already know what it is, it's some sort of chewing gum not ment for chewing. You simply tear off a piece and use it to stick things to the wall for example. Every student should have it since it's illegal to put up nails and such in all apartments. It can honestly be used for anything. Like putting up a gigantic world-map and a Pirates of the Caribbean-poster...

8. I'm too good at cooking

I love dinner! It's the best meal of the day. And with some help and inspiration from my parents I've become quite good at cooking. The problem is... I'm used to cook for five, not just one. Thus, every dinner I've made this week have been too big for just one person! I fortunately solved the problem by saving some of it for later... So actually I've just cooked half of the meals I've eaten, the other half only took some heating.

9. How to start a washing machine

Don't judge! I have actually never washed my own clothes... Luckily It wasn't too hard to get my head around. Yesterday I even washed the soap-thing (the drawer you put the soap in) by hand! It took forever since there were soap-rests stuck in there from a looong time ago. Washing dirty and grose soap-drawer? Check!

10. TV-series are best on DVD

Living all by myself is all right for the most of the time. But sometimes I find myself missing human voices... The solution became TV-series! Castle, Rookie Blue, So You Think You Can Dance, the entire first season of Game of Thrones, and my current project: White Collar. Game of Thrones surprised me by being really good! And White Collar is so much fun I can't help but giggle out loud from time to time. Luckily there are still four seasons to go!